BurmaNet News, October 13, 2006

[Editor]

October 13, 2006 Issue # 3065

"Democracy wants fearless persons, so ... we have to be fearless."

- Kyaw Min Yuu, 88 Generation group activist in Rangoon, on the latest
campaign inside Burma to release political prisoners, as quoted in
Associated Press, October 13, 2006

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Latest challenge to Myanmar's junta led by protest veterans
Irrawaddy: Ethnic delegates complain they’re ignored at National Convention
Narinjara News: "White expression" campaign in Arakan for detained student
leaders
Irrawaddy: Burmese flood victims lacking assistance

ON THE BORDER
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Karen refugees in Thailand yearn for a normal life

HEALTH / AIDS
AP: New fund created to help Myanmar fight 3 killer diseases

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: Burmese opium cultivation down, but production rises

REGIONAL
AFP: Migrant beheaded in front of daughter in Thailand's south
Narinjara: Thirty four Arakanese freedom fighters to face trial in Calcutta

NTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: Burma among countries with worst rights record, UK urged to act

OPINION / OTHER
New York Times: Armies of children

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 13, Associated Press
Latest challenge to Myanmar's junta led by protest veterans - Grant Peck

Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar are trying to turn the latest military
crackdown to their advantage, hoping that a signature campaign calling for
political dialogue will mobilize the public without exceeding what the
junta can tolerate.

"Now, people are more courageous than ever," said Kyaw Min Yuu, one of the
campaign's organizers, describing the petition as a way "to test our
people's courage and to test our campaign for democracy.

"Since the military crushed a pro-democracy movement in 1988, killing
hundreds and imprisoning its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, it has come down
hard on dissenters, arresting hundreds of political activists. The
signature campaign a rare protest against the repressive regime was
launched Oct. 2 by an informal group of former student leaders who were
key players in the 1988 movement that sought to end military rule in
Myanmar, previously called Burma.

Just days earlier, five of the group's members were detained for suspected
subversion.

"We are trying to seek how people can participate politically at the
lowest level," Kyaw Min Yuu told The Associated Press, explaining that
signing a petition is one political act people believe won't get them in
trouble with the authorities.

Most leaders of the 1988 pro-democracy movement who didn't flee the
country were imprisoned for more than a decade.

Spirits unbroken by their time in jail, the former student leaders began
casting about for a fresh political role after they were released in 2004
and 2005. Their de facto leader is Min Ko Naing a near-legendary activist
and they call themselves the 88 Generation Students' Group.

Their semi-public petition campaign people are contacted and sign in
privacy has captured the imagination of many in Yangon, the country's
commercial and cultural center.

The boldness of their move stands in contrast to the virtual paralysis of
the National League for Democracy party of charismatic Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Suu Kyi, which despite its large and loyal following seems
incapable of any political initiative while she remains under house
arrest.

She has been in detention for almost 11 of the past 17 years, continuously
since May 2003.The signature campaign was started a week after Min Ko
Naing and four colleagues were detained by the authorities "in order to
prevent unrest and instability in the country," according to the state-run
newspaper Kyemon.

The petition demands the release of all political prisoners including Suu
Kyi and the 88 Generation detainees and a dialogue among the military,
political opposition, and ethnic minority leaders "for the national
interest and national reconciliation.

"The activists claim to have gathered more than 120,000 signatures,
including 2,000 on the first day alone.

So far, the campaign has drawn only relatively mild rebukes from the
military government, which is usually not shy about condemning its foes.
However, on Thursday at least one former political prisoner in Yangon said
he had been warned by the junta's neighborhood representative not to sign.

Asked about the matter earlier this week, Information Minister Brig. Gen.
Kyaw Hsan replied that any effort to mislead the public "is not
appropriate, not suitable.

"He said that not many people had signed the petition, and that "those who
sign are not knowing the issue well, and they are deceived, we
understand."

"The authorities close their eyes," said Kyaw Min Yuu. "I think they wait
and see.

"Although all daily newspapers and radio and television stations are owned
by the government, and other media are under tight censorship, the
campaign is able to publicize its activities through foreign radio
broadcasts, he said.

For news, many people turn to foreign shortwave broadcasts, particularly
the BBC's Myanmar-language service.

The NLD, which Kyaw Min Yuu said pioneered the petition approach with a
2003 campaign seeking Suu Kyi's release, is supportive of the signature
campaign.

"The campaign has brought greater unity among political parties, the
public and those interested in politics," said Nyan Win, a lawyer and
spokesman for the party.

The 88 Generation wants to measure the political temper of Myanmar's
people and the capacity of the group's campaigners in order to see "what
we can do for the next step," said Kyaw Min Yuu.

"Democracy wants fearless persons, so ... we have to be fearless," he said.

____________________________________

October 13, Irrawaddy
Ethnic delegates complain they’re ignored at National Convention - Khun Sam

The leader of an ethnic delegation at the junta-sponsored National
Convention complained on Friday most of the proposals put forward by
ethnic participants were being ignored.

The accusation was made by Dr Manam Tu Ja, leader of a Kachin Independence
Organization delegation. He told The Irrawaddy by telephone as he prepared
to take a weekend break from convention work: “Most of our proposals are
ignored and shelved.”

The current session of the National Convention, now in its 13th year,
opened on Tuesday and has been reviewing previous work and the structures
of three legislative bodies that had previously been discussed.

Manam Tu Ja, Vice-Chairman of the KIO, said his delegation had proposed a
greater sharing of legislative powers in such areas as economics, health
and education. But the proposal had been ignored and most powers were
being entrusted to the central government.

He said the Burmese military junta had made a conciliatory offer to record
the proposal in “the most important session of ratifying the State’s
legislative powers.” The constitution now being worked out could then be
amended by a future parliament.

The National Convention is the first of seven steps in the military
government’s roadmap to democracy but no timetable has yet been given for
proposed democratic reforms. The convention has been dismissed by
opposition figures within and outside Burma as a sham and has been accused
of lacking democratic principles. It has also been criticized within
international circles.

The government, however, claims success for the new session, which is
being attended by 1,073 of 1,081 invited representatives.

Despite taking part in the convention’s work, ceasefire groups have
expressed doubt that the constitution-drafting process will solve Burma’s
political problems or lead to genuine democratic unity.

Government officials at the convention are assuring ethnic participants
that amendments to a new constitution will pave the way to fulfill their
demands, said Tu Ja.
____________________________________

October 13, Narinjara News
"White expression" campaign in Arakan for detained student leaders

The "White expression" campaign for the release of five detained student
leaders began in Arakan State on October 11 in Taungup town, with an
estimated 60 percent of townspeople wearing white clothes in a show of
solidarity.

Yesterday, the "White expression" campaign started in another town of
Arakan, Rambree, and many Arakanese youth began wearing white T-shirts and
other white clothes to show support for the campaign, reported a youth
from the area.

A source from Akyab said the campaign is now spreading throughout Arakan,
including Akyab and Kyaukpru, with many people from Arakan expressing
their support for the campaign calling for the release of the five student
leaders'.

A resident from Akyab said that many people, particularly youths and
students, have expressed their support by wearing white T-shirts, and they
expect the number of campaign supporters will go up in the next few days
in Akyab.

The "White expression" campaign is being carried out by 88 generation
students to call on the government to release all political prisoners,
including the five 88 generation student leaders who were arrested
recently by the authorities.

The five student leaders had all previously been detained by Burma's
military junta for over a decade, and were released from jail a few years
ago. Among the five, the famous student leader Ko Min Ko Naing was only
free for 11 months after a 16 year term in the Akyab prison.

The campaign started on October 10 and is set to continue till the 44th
birthday of Ko Min Ko Naing on October 18.

____________________________________

October 13, Irrawaddy
Burmese flood victims lacking assistance - Shah Paung

The victims of recent flooding in central Burma have complained of
insufficient relief assistance, according to relief officials and local
residents.

Official reports on Thursday estimated that 3,000 people have been
affected by flooding across Burma, while local sources put the number
closer to 5,000, in Kyaukse township, Mandalay division. Hundreds of
victims have sought shelter in monasteries or with friends and relatives,
according to residents in the area. Many live in makeshift huts with poor
supplies.

An official from the Myanmar Red Cross Society office in Rangoon said that
they are providing plastic sheets for shelters in all regions affected by
the floods, including Mandalay division and Shan State.

Win Maw, a flood victim in Kyaukse, said that authorities visited the area
and provided small quantities of food, such as rice, yellow beans and
cooking oil to victims, but the supplies were not enough to sustain a
family for more than one day.

Burma’s state-run media reported on Thursday that at least 13 people have
died in Kyaukpadaung township, Mandalay division, but local residents
expected the actual number of dead to be much higher.

Relief efforts by international organizations are reportedly under way,
but they will likely face delays, as transportation routes have been
severely affected by the floods.

The MRCS official added that the International Committee of the Red Cross
has also provided drinking water for flood victims. But the ICRC office in
Mandalay could not confirm this.

Recent heavy rains in Burma have severely damaged transportation routes in
central and northern Burma, according to an official statement released on
Wednesday by the Union of Myanmar Travel Association. Roads and bridges in
Pagan, Mandalay and Shan State, particularly near Nyaung Shwe, were
destroyed, the statement said. Flooding has also reportedly caused damage
to Mandalay International Airport.

A UMTA official told The Irrawaddy on Friday that roads in Nyaung Shwe and
surrounding areas have been blocked by water and landslides.

Residents in Sagaing division and Tachilek, on the Thai-Burmese border
near Mae Sai, have received no assistance from local authorities to deal
with the severe flooding.

Meanwhile, flooding in neighboring Thailand has killed 44 people and
affected nearly 2.8 million rais of farmland in 49 provinces, according to
Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 13, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Karen refugees in Thailand yearn for a normal life - Aiya Snow

Naw Yuzana yearns for what most people take for granted. The 20-year-old
ethnic Karen hopes to someday go outside her refugee camp in Thailand and
get a job.

It is her dream, she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur by telephone.

"I want to support my parents with my own money," she said from her
refugee camp near Mae Sot, 370 kilometres north-west of Bangkok on the
Thai-Myanmar border.

Naw, using an assumed name to protect herself because she wishes to return
to Myanmar, is from a poor family who lived in a small Karen village in
the country once known as Burma, where the Karen have been struggling for
decades for autonomy from the government, which is trying to wipe out the
Karen rebel movement.

Army troops destroyed Naw's village and burned her family's home when she
was 13. She and her family fled to the border and were soon living in one
of the refugee camps just inside Thailand.

She said living in the camp was like being in jail, and she wanted a
permit that would allow her to work outside.

"I want to fly like a bird and want to discover what is life," she said.
But she is only one of many refugees waiting for such a permit.

A Burmese man working with an aid organization helping the refugees said
the general feeling in the camps is that there is no chance to get out of
the "dark world" and work. He said many are just like Naw, dreaming of
earning their own money and flying "like a bird."

But there is hope. Before he was deposed in a coup last month, Thai prime
minister Thaksin Shinawatra had agreed in principle in talks with the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to allow Karen
refugees to have identification cards that would permit them to work
legally.

Myanmar's junta, which labels the Karen refugee population as insurgents
and illegal immigrants, was not opposed to allowing the Karens ID cards,
which are already offered to about 600,000 "legal" Burmese workers in
Thailand.

Thaksin was reported to have thought jobless refugees could better serve
the Thai economy and themselves if they were allowed to work, but the
discussions have been in limbo since the September 19 Thai putsch.

A spokesman for the Karen-founded Karen Refugee Council, however, was
philosophical about the change of government in Thailand.

"Nothing special has changed in the camps after the coup," council
spokesman U Saw Khin told dpa. "The so-called ID card programme was so far
from us anyway."

He added that he is not familiar with the position toward refugees of
Thailand's new government, which was named this week.

The UNHCR, however, said it expected the new Thai government would
continue to consider the issue.

"We recognize the refugee issue may not be prominent on the new
government's agenda, but we expect the process to continue," UNHCR
spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said.

The UNHCR plans to discuss the issue with the new government, which is to
hold office until late 2007 when new elections are to be held.

With an ID card, refugees could work as migrant workers and would have the
freedom to leave their camps and find employment in the surrounding area.

"Refugees should have the same rights as migrant workers," McKinsey said.

Legal migrant workers in Thailand face many problems of their own,
including being paid less than Thai workers, sometimes being cheated and
often overworked.

But for refugees like Naw, that ID card and a job would be a dream come
true. With her earnings, she could provide for her parents and younger
brother and sister, she said.

The camps remained stable after the coup with new refugees continuing to
arrive, and Thai government policy has not changed, said a worker with a
non-governmental organization who did not wish to be identified.

About 150,000 refugees with the Karen and Kareni ethnic groups are living
in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Some refugees have lived in
the camps for 10 years or more, and many of the young people there were
born in the camps. Those children have never even been to the country
their parents fled. They only know camp life.

International organizations support the refugees with rice, oil and basic
food stuffs, and some of them breed pigs, ducks, rabbits and other animals
in the camps, but they have to sell them in the camp.

International organizations have also set up classrooms in the camps
because the refugees are not allowed to attend Thai schools.

At this point, Naw and many others hope they will be able to work in
Thailand, but Naw has another dream, too. She wants to return to her
native Karen village to see where she played with her friends when she was
child.

"I really miss my home village," she said, but she said she's also hoping
for one dream at a time.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 13, Associated Press
New fund created to help Myanmar fight 3 killer diseases

Myanmar will receive US$99.5 million (euro79 million) in foreign aid to
fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the three leading causes of death in
the country, replacing funds withdrawn by a U.N.-formed international
fund, state-run media reported Friday.

The aid comes from a newly created consortium known as the Three Diseases
Fund which, unlike the U.N.-created Global Fund, aims to provide money
directly to non-governmental organizations in Myanmar rather than to the
country's military junta.

The consortium is financed by Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway,
Sweden and the European Commission, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper
reported.

A memorandum of understanding was signed Thursday at the new
administrative capital of Naypyidaw, 450 kilometers (250 miles) north of
Yangon, it said.

The report said the funds are meant to compensate for the loss of a US$98
million (euro77 million) grant by the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight
these diseases that was suspended in 2005 because of the junta's travel
restrictions on aid workers in Myanmar.

According to the latest available statistics, 3,000 people died of malaria
in Myanmar last year and an estimated 12,000 succumbed to tuberculosis.
More than 300,000 adults or 1.3 percent of the population were infected
with the HIV virus in 2004, and there are about 25,000 new infections each
year.

____________________________________
DRUGS

October 13, Irrawaddy
Burmese opium cultivation down, but production rises - Clive Parker

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime on Friday hailed a 34 percent drop in
Burmese opium production, but statistics revealed an apparent drastic
improvement in farming methods that led to a slight increase in
production.

In its report—which also includes Thailand and Laos—UNODC reported a 29
percent drop in opium cultivation in Southeast Asia’s notorious Golden
Triangle, with Burma’s total cultivation falling to 21,500 hectares.

“If the current trend continues, there will soon be only one
opium-producing country left in the world—Afghanistan,” said Antonio Maria
Costa, UNODC’s executive director.

In a ceremony to launch the report in Rangoon on Friday, Burma’s joint
secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Police Col Kham
Aung, urged the international community to support Burma’s drug
elimination effort “without any political consideration,” Chinese state
news agency Xinhua reported. Burma plans to completely eradicate drugs by
2014, he added.

Other UNODC statistics, though, paint a worrying picture for Burma. The
country’s opium yield has risen dramatically in the past year, by 55
percent, suggesting that farmers are becoming increasingly sophisticated
at growing the poppy.

Similarly, UNODC reported a 24 percent increase in the potential value of
Burma’s opium production, to US $72 million, while yearly income per
opium-growing household rose 50 percent, suggesting that farmers will
likely become increasingly reluctant to give up their illicit harvest.
Potential production rose one percent to 315 metric tons.

“Higher opium yields in Myanmar [Burma]
offset the reduction in area under
cultivation,” UNODC said.

It also warned that in many cases, farmers that stopped producing opium
were still facing food insecurity and extreme poverty. In Special Region
(2), Shan State, although opium production has been reduced to practically
zero, UNODC said, “less than $20 millions were spent on development
assistance since 1998, or less than $3 per person per year.”

Recent reports from Kachin State, which UNODC says increased opium
production last year, suggest that production and addiction are on the
rise as villagers seek a way to keep up with increasing commodity prices.

Statistics by region were not immediately available, though, given that
the report will not be released officially until next week.

Less than one month ago, the US said that Burma was “failing demonstrably”
to fight drugs, thereby keeping it on a blacklist of major drug producing
countries.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 13, Agence France Presse
Migrant beheaded in front of daughter in Thailand's south

Thailand: Suspected Islamic militants beheaded a Myanmar migrant worker in
front of his teenage daughter in the most gruesome of a spate of attacks
in Thailand's troubled south, police said Friday.

Several militants burst into the house of the 36-year-old prawn farm
worker late Thursday, blindfolded his teenage daughter and shot the man at
close range before beheading him, police said.

The militants then dropped his head along a roadside in the man's village
in Pattani, one of three restive provinces bordering Malaysia, police
said.

When police went to recover the severed head, a small bomb exploded, but
no one was hurt in the blast.

Meanwhile, a 50-year-old Buddhist man was killed in a drive-by shooting
early Friday in Narathiwat province, police said.

And in neighboring Yala province, a policeman was seriously injured in a
bombing at a village teashop, police said.

The latest attacks came amid indications from Thailand's military leaders,
who seized power in a bloodless coup last month, that authorities want to
hold peace talks in a bid to resolve the long-running insurgency in the
south.

More than 1,500 people have been killed since the violence erupted in
January 2004.

Most of the casualties have been among civilians. Local government
officials, police and military are often targeted by Islamic insurgents.

The region was an ethnic Malay sultanate until Buddhist Thailand annexed
it a century ago. Separatist unrest has simmered ever since.

____________________________________

October 13, Narinjara News
Thirty four Arakanese freedom fighters to face trial in Calcutta

Thirty four Arakanese freedom fighters, arrested by Indian authorities in
1998, were transferred on Tuesday to Port Blair Central Jail from a
special detention centre that had been opened for them, according to
reports.

"They will proceed to a Calcutta jail. They will be sent to Calcutta on a
government plane on October 25," said a member of NUPA.

A source said that their case file will be handed over to Calcutta High
Court by the Port Blair district court.
During their jail term in Port Blair City, located on the South Andaman
Island in the Indian Ocean, the 34 Arakanese freedom fighters were allowed
to live outside the jail - known as a special detention centre - and they
were able to move freely around the city of Port Blair during the day.

In Calcutta, they will not get such an opportunity and will be confined in
jail.

The NUPA member said that while they were a little free in Port Blair,
there were no trials during their nine-year jail term, as a government
plaintiff did not appear before the court.

"We are waiting eagerly for the court verdict, to find out whether they
are guilty or not, and we do not want to wait for years any longer," said
the NUPA member who wanted to remain anonymous.
.
In Calcutta, the court will reach a verdict soon. They are likely to be
free if the government complainants fail to produce evidence before the
judges.

The 34 freedom fighters were arrested by the Indian Army during the
so-called Operation Leech in 1998. During the operation six Arakanese
leaders, including Bo Raza, Chief of the Arakan Army, and Major Soe Tun,
Treasurer of the National United Party of Arakan, were assassinated in
cold blood by the Indian Army.

According to NUPA sources, a column of the Arakan Army led by Bo Raza
visited the island of Landford in the Andaman chain to set up a naval base
for an Arakanese marine force on invitation from the Indian Army.

When they arrived at the island, a number of Indian Army officials
received them onshore with a welcome ceremony. A day later the Indian Army
took the six Arakanese leaders to a location for a meeting with some high
ranking Indian Army officials who travelled to the island in an army
helicopter. When the group approached the helicopter, Indian troops opened
fire and killed them all.

The 34 Arakanese freedom fighters currently being sent to Calcutta have
been detained by the Indian army ever since then.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 13, Mizzima News
Burma among countries with worst rights record, UK urged to act - Mungpi

Burma is among six countries with the worst human rights records,
according to the British government on Thursday.

The British government's human rights annual report 2006 highlights
unabated human rights abuses in six countries – Burma, Chagos Archipelago,
Colombia, Tibet, West Papau and Western Sahara.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's report, released with a speech by
British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, also highlighted the human
rights violations in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Sudan's Darfur, and Democratic
Republic of Congo. The report also took note of the reforms in Nepal.

The 356-page report, however, attracted criticism from human rights
campaigners and activists who accused the British government of doing too
little to improve the situation in countries with the worst record of
human rights.

The Burma Campaign UK along with several other groups yesterday released
an "alternative human rights report" to coincide with the government's
report and attacked the British government for not maintaining a
consistent approach to human rights.

The BCUK report in its introduction said, "As far as the British
government's foreign policy priorities are concerned, human rights have
not just taken a back seat, but have been locked away in the boot."

Mark Fermaner, media and campaigns manager with the BCUK told Mizzima that
the purpose of the 'alternative report' is to show how the British
government is not doing enough and to look at things which it can do.

The group said the government's report reveals Britain's lack of priority
to human rights and a disparity in approach.

The group said, while the government's efforts to produce an annual report
on human rights abuses around the world is welcome, "human rights are
still not a driving force in decision-making. This has to change."

"The British government hasn't banned British companies investing in Burma
and foreign companies using British territories to invest in Burma. These
are things that are easy for the government to do, if they strongly want
to do it. Yet still [the government] is sitting, doing nothing," said
Fermaner.

The British government inexplicably refuses to impose unilateral
investment sanctions, despite being the second largest source of approved
investment in Burma, said the group.

Citing the arrest of five student leaders of the 88 generation and a human
rights campaigner in Rangoon last month, Fermaner said the British
government should use all its opportunity to pressure the Burmese junta
and use its influence internationally to press for a change in the
country.

"It [the British government] can make use of its influences in Asia and
around the world about the situation in Burma and apply more pressure on
the Burmese regime. There has been a lot of effort but no coordinated
action," said Fermaner.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 12, The New York Times
Armies of children

The recruitment of child soldiers is one of the most heinous war crimes,
and among the most forgotten. Perhaps a quarter-million children - most in
their teens but some as young as 7 - are forced to serve in government or
insurgent armies in 20 countries around the world. Not only are they
ordered to kill and torture, they often become victims of physical and
sexual abuse. When they do return to civilian life, they are walking
ghosts - damaged, uneducated pariahs.

But now something has happened that may force guerrilla leaders and
government officials who recruit children to think again. The
International Criminal Court, established to bring the most serious
international criminals to justice, is beginning its first prosecution -
of a defendant charged with the use of child soldiers. He is Thomas
Lubanga Dyilo, leader of a Congolese militia responsible for ethnic
massacres, torture and rapes in the east of the country.

At the height of the violence in eastern Congo, in 2003, about 30 percent
of militia fighters were children. Many were forcibly recruited, but
others enlisted, seeking protection or food. About 30,000 have been
demobilized, and groups like Unicef and Save the Children are helping them
get back into school and rejoin their communities. But the militias that
are still fighting are still using child soldiers, sometimes forcing
demobilized children back into the war.

Much good can come from the court's focus on child soldiers. The decision
by the international tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia to treat rape as
one of the most serious international crimes has changed legal attitudes
and practice worldwide. The International Criminal Court is now drawing
attention to another widespread, yet widely ignored, horror. Guerrilla
leaders in Colombia, Sri Lanka, West Africa and elsewhere, and government
officials in Myanmar, should pay close attention.